Category Archives: News

Summer is coming, which means the PEGASUS Student Summer Seminar Series will
be starting up again.

Each summer, PEGASUS organizes a seminar series that provides an opportunity
for graduate students in the department to share their research and practice
their presentation skills in a friendly environment. The audience consists
of only graduate and undergraduate students, so the environment is far more
relaxed and informal than departmental seminars or conference sessions.
Talks are 30-45 minutes long with questions from the audience.

We have several unclaimed spots throughout the summer, so if anyone would
like to tell their fellow graduate students a bit about their research and
gain some experience speaking to a fairly friendly audience, please contact
Fred Sage at ac.ksasu.liamnull@523ssf for more information.

The seminars will take place on Tuesdays at 3:30 in Room 175, the seminar
room on the main floor. Coffee and cookies will be provided at3:00 in the Faculty lounge. The first presentation will occur on May 12.

We hope you will come out and hear what your fellow graduate students have
to say.

Please join PEGASUS for its annual general meeting. Come out, meet the executive, and bring forth your questions, complaints, and suggestions. We look forward to having you there — every bit of input and feedback helps us better represent our members.
Pizza and refreshments will be available.

Make note of the excellent astronomy events that will be taking place this month. There is a solar eclipse, a lunar eclipse, and an open house at the Sleaford Observatory. Also don’t forget that the Campus Observatory is open for public viewing every Saturday night.

Yesterday PEGASUS once again hosted information workshop, from 5:00-6:00pm in Physics 175, for the purposes discussing NSERC (Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council) funding opportunities for both undergraduate and graduate Physics students. Thank you to all the students who participated this year!

A copy of the workshop presentation is available at this link. If you are interested in graduate studies or research be sure to get in contact with the Physics and Engineering Physics department! You can talk to the secretaries in the main office, Andrei Smolyakov, Sasha Koustov, or PEGASUS.

Remember, if you are an undergraduate student interested in research, talk to some professors in an area of study you find interesting, and apply for an USRA! They are easy to apply for and applications are often very successful.

There is a TA opportunity for physics graduate students. The course is called “Making the Future.” What follows is a description of the course. If you are interested, please contact the department.

It has been offered for three years at McGill and this year simultaneously at the University of Calgary. The course asks students to apply the present- and past-focused learning of their regular academic program to their own future, and to the future of Canada. It highlights different aspects of their life – the workplace, family, religion, health and health care, diversity, public engagement and politics, Canada in the world, etc. – one each week, and challenges them: you have 60-plus years of life ahead of you, 40-plus years of work-life. How do you want to live them? In what kind of Canada? In what kind of world? And knowing that “visions” are easy, how would you achieve that vision? How would you get from here to there?

Experts in each subject-theme are invited to present a thought-provoking overview of the past and present of their specialities, to engage with Ken in a discussion of what they’ve presented, then to discuss with students the future, this time as if they too are 20 years old, but knowing what they do about their subject and about Canada, with all those years of their lives ahead of them. How would they think about and approach their subject differently? How would they transform it?

The course offers a chance for students to experience, week after week, very interesting people, engaged by their subject, who are intrigued by the puzzle and challenge of making the future. It offers them a chance to feel some connection to students in other parts of the country, and to work with them – people they don’t know, who may have different interests and strengths, with whom they may not get along, but with whom they have a task to perform and perform well – giving them a taste of and some experience in their futures.

The students like the breadth of the course, its newness, its focus on the future, that it’s about Canada, that they are connecting to Canada in it and through it. They like its surprises, relevance and excitement. Given its subject matter and its future-focus, the course is equally appropriate for students from science, social science, humanities, business, engineering and other disciplines.

We are hoping that you would be interested in learning about this course, sharing ideas of how it might be best launched on our campus, and exploring idea for potential speakers and student TA opportunities. Please let me know which of the following times work in your schedule.

May 5th from 3:30-4:30, Arts 298
May 7th from 3:00-4:00, Arts 298
May 14th from 8:30-9:30, Arts 298

Must have proven/advanced technical (IT) ability and be comfortable using PC and MAC computers. Should have working knowledge of Skype and not be intimidated with co-facilitating an Canada-wide multipoint video conference set-up across 5 campuses.

Abstract:
Although observed in the 0 + → 0 + transition, the measurement for the two photon decay has not been accomplished in the situation of varying energy states. In this thesis, I develop upon the proceeding to prepare and develop the experimental procedures in order to measure the two photon decay. The end results demonstrate that, in order to obtain high quality and accurate results, the two photon decay will be observed using a 137 Cs source. The detector array will consist of 10 LaBr3 detectors paired in groups of two, centered around the source with a lead shield placed between each detector.

To see the other talks that will be happening, check here weekly on Wednesdays.

Last night was the Physics and Engineering Physics Graduation Banquet. The event was held in the Exeter room in Marquis Hall. Sarah Purdy, president of PEGASUS, gave a toast to the graduating graduate students. Here is a picture of the graduate students who attended the event last night:

Congratulations to all Physics and Engineering Physics students who graduated this year! Your hard work and dedication to the pursuit of knowledge has paid off.

A recent email message from University Announcements stated that there would be an opt-out period for the Summer UPASS. This information appears to be in conflict with previous announcements stating that the 2014 referendum results indicated that students did not support having a Summer UPASS. The following is for clarification.In 2013 the Graduate Students participated in a referendum, the majority voted “yes” to having a one year trial bus pass split into three terms, lasting from September 2013 to August 2014.

In 2014 there was another referendum to consider keeping the bus pass into the future, beginning at the end of the trial period. The questions were split into two parts, the majority voted yes for the fall/winter bus pass, and voted “no” for the summer pass.The bus pass you have now, and will have access to this summer is part of the TRIAL PERIOD.The decisions made based on this year’s referendum will take effect in Sept 2014. There will be no summer UPASS in 2015.If you have questions about UPASS please contact ac.ksasunull@ssapu.asg, or ac.ksasunull@as.asg

The GSA is holding a referendum about whether or not to keep the UPASS. Specifically, a vote will be held on two distinct questions. For more information about the questions to be voted on during the referendum please look here: http://gsa.usask.ca/services/upass/upass-referendum-2014.php Please take the time to get informed about this important topic. Voting opens on 26 February, 2014 at 9:30am and closes on 28 February, 2014at 4:30pm. Voting will be done using the VOTE tab in PAWS.

Don’t forget to vote!

Also GSA is holding an information session on the upcoming UPASS Referendum where you may ask questions about the referendum.